


Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on

by LakeWitch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Asking out on a Date, Confessions, Dancing, Fluff, I swear I'm working on longer things I'm just easily distracted, Kissing, M/M, Middle-aged, Minor Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter, One Shot, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Slow Dancing, So minor you don't even see it, Some mild longing, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, mention of alcohol use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25248529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LakeWitch/pseuds/LakeWitch
Summary: At Albus and Scorpius' wedding, Harry Potter asks Draco Malfoy to dance.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 24
Kudos: 159





	Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on

**Author's Note:**

> Hello ❤️  
> I've been reading a bunch of amazing middle-aged Spock/Kirk fanfiction lately, which inspired this little middle-aged Draco/Harry fic. Hope you like!
> 
> Title comes from "Dance me to the end of love" by Leonard Cohen

The summer night was growing cool, and a soft breeze ruffled Draco's hair, as Harry Potter sank into the free seat next to him—with a half-drunk cocktail glass in hand, and a loosened black tie hanging from his neck. 

Draco resented the fact that his heartrate had quickened, simply from Harry’s sudden proximity. He was too old for that sort of response. That ship had sailed long ago. 

‘Who’d have thought, eh? Our boys, _married_ ,’ Harry mused, before taking a sip, and surveying the happy wedding guests—some dancing to Muggle pop music, some sat at the dozen or so round tables arranged around the grassy "dancefloor". 

Draco leaned back and squinted upwards, past the strings of fairy lights, past the tree branches, and up to the stars. ‘I did.’ 

‘Yeah?’ 

Draco smiled, maybe a little wistfully, and turned his head to the side to look at Harry. ‘Scorpius couldn’t stop talking about Albus. Every summer, he’d come back full of stories, and I’d have to hear them all fifty times over.’ 

Harry laughed. ‘Yeah. Yeah, you’ve got me there. Albus was the same. It was all, “Scorpius said this,” “Scorpius did that”.’ Harry rubbed a spot on his trousers, near his knee, with a thumb. ‘I just figured it was only friendship at the time.’ 

Draco hummed noncommittally, and caught eye contact with his son across the dancefloor. Scorpius grinned at him, so Draco raised his hand in a little wave to say, “Hi. I see you. I love you.” Scorpius raised an eyebrow, and shifted his gaze pointedly towards Harry. Draco rolled his eyes, and shook his head a fraction—but he couldn’t help but smile. 

Scorpius had some ridiculous notions. 

‘Hey,’ said Harry, ‘Do you want to dance?’ He set his empty glass on the table. 

Draco raised an eyebrow, feeling his traitorous pulse start to pick up speed again. ‘With you?’ 

A breathy laugh, and a lopsided smile, which seemed so boyish and nostalgic that it yanked at Draco’s heart uncomfortably—stirring up old memories from hidden places carefully filed away. Old, dusty feelings. ‘Well, yeah.’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘ _Why not_? Our sons just got married.’ 

Draco didn’t see the logic there. But … ‘Fine.’ 

Harry laughed under his breath, and pushed himself to his feet. ‘I love the enthusiasm, really makes a bloke feel special.’ He extended a hand, an offer to help Draco up. 

Biting back a sigh, Draco took it. And he tried not to think about being a child, and wanting—more than anything—for Harry Potter to be his friend. An outstretched hand. A (deserved) rejection. 

Silly, infantile, thoughts. He’d likely had too much wine. 

Harry’s hand was warm, rough, calloused, strong. The hand of a person who had lived through many things—a childhood of adventures and hardships that might’ve better-belonged in a fairy-tale instead of real life, an illustrious Auror career, the raising of three children into adulthood, work promotion after work promotion, and, somewhere along the way, a divorce. 

Harry helped pull Draco to his feet, and quickly dropped his hand once they were both vertical. He turned away a bit awkwardly, and Draco trailed after him as they approached the dancefloor. This was probably ill-advised. 

The upbeat number shifted jarringly into something slow and soft as soon as they stepped onto the patch of grass meant for dancing. A female’s voice began to sing longingly about love. Love … weren’t far too many songs about it? He’d sooner prefer a song about agriculture, like, say, having the finest turnips at the farmer’s market. 

Harry turned to him, on the edge of the dancefloor, and a bit removed from the other dance partners. He went ahead and placed one hand on Draco’s shoulder, and took Draco’s hand with the other. 

‘You want me to lead?’ Draco asked under his breath, setting his free hand gently on Harry’s waist. 

A snort. ‘I figure you’re better at it.’ 

Draco began to guide them in a slow-moving circle. ‘Too true. I remember your atrocious dancing at the Yule Ball. Do I need to worry about my toes?’ 

Harry laughed, which drew Draco's focus to Harry’s face, quite against his will. Merlin. They were rather close, weren’t they? And Harry Potter’s eyes hadn’t changed a tick. Still too-green, like emeralds. And impossibly kind, and … 

Well, the skin around them changed. Older, more weathered, with crow's feet—which merely meant that Harry had laughed a lot. Harry had lines around his mouth too, and two between his eyebrows. Smiles. Deep thinking, concern. Parts of his life were written right there on his face, and … and time had only made him more ruggedly handsome. 

‘Ginny taught me to be more mindful of my feet,’ Harry said, and Draco watched his mouth move as he spoke. 

‘Did she? I’m grateful.’ Draco realised belatedly where he’d been staring, so he looked for Ginny in the crowd, feigning neutrality. He found her dancing with her new husband: Graham, if Draco remembered correctly. Seemed a nice man. The quiet sort, unassuming. Draco made eye contact with her on accident, and she smiled warmly back over to him. 

The tempo of the song sped up a fraction, so Draco steered them in time to the music. He felt the rise and fall of Harry’s breaths through his suit jacket. 

And Draco could smell him. Spiced, and earthy. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. 

‘Did you talk about me during the summers, back then?’ Harry asked. 

A surprised laugh escaped Draco, he couldn’t have helped it. Harry just looked back at him with a calm, barely-there smile. ‘Merlin … _Yes_ , I suppose I did. But the tone was a little different from my son’s, I’m sure.’ 

‘Your father must’ve enjoyed that.’ Harry’s eyes sparkled, mischievous—if Draco wasn’t mistaken. 

Another laugh burst out of Draco. Good Lord. ‘He was immensely annoyed, yes.’ Draco could practically see his father suppress his eyes from rolling, saying, with tight lips, “You’ve told me this at least a dozen times already.” The memory sobered Draco. All those years ago … And now, his father was long-passed, and Draco was a middle-aged widower with a grown-up, now married, son. Where had all the time gone? 

And Harry’s implication that there was anything akin to similar between his son’s rambling about Albus, and Draco’s about Harry, made his chest ache. Perhaps if he hadn’t been such a little … Draco took a breath. It didn’t matter. It didn’t do to dwell on what could’ve been—things like: if only there hadn’t been a Voldemort, if only his parents hadn’t raised him to be so … if only he hadn’t been so afraid of his own feelings ... 

‘Was it only animosity?’ Harry asked, and his expression seemed to sober as well. 

The question caused Draco to falter, and narrowly miss stepping on his foot. What exactly was Harry asking? ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’ Draco furrowed his brow, and resumed dancing in time to the beat. He tried to read something in Harry’s expression—but couldn’t find answers there. Harry couldn’t have asked what Draco thought he was asking. 

A solemn, small smile, and Harry looked off at the other dance partners. ‘Never mind.’ 

That sent an uncomfortable jolt through Draco. ‘No, what are you asking?’ He held his breath. 

Harry shook his head, and smiled a little—still watching the other dancers with a far-away, unfocussed look. ‘I annoyed my friends, talking about you.’ 

‘Okay.’ 

Harry laughed dryly, and finally looked Draco in the eye again. The dry smile faded from his mouth. ‘I think I fancied you then, despite everything.’ 

Right … What? ‘Well that wasn’t advisable, now was it?’ Draco said, to hide his shock. He licked at his bottom lip. ‘I was a Death Eater, wasn’t I?’ 

Harry exhaled hard, and then smiled. ‘No, not advisable at all.’ He bit at his bottom lip, and then added, pointedly, ‘Back then.’ 

Draco swallowed, furrowing his brow deeper. ‘Are you attempting to flirt with me right now, Harry Potter?’ Because surely, Draco was reading something wrong here. They were getting their wires crossed. 

That earned another laugh. ‘Sorry, yeah it’s been a long time since I’ve attempted it. Rather rusty, aren’t I?’ 

Draco found himself blinking rapidly. ‘ _You are_ , then? You’re attempting to … seduce me? On our sons’ wedding day?’ 

Harry scrunched his nose. ‘I should’ve waited a bit longer, eh? Don’t want to taint the day if you reject me.’ 

He shook his head slowly, and couldn’t keep a smile from forming. Well, then. This was a very unexpected turn of events. Draco took a breath, and then released it. ‘Some would say we’ve waited long enough.’ He certainly might say so. Merlin. He’d had no idea … no hint nor clue … _All these years_ — 

‘Yeah?’ Harry seemed relieved, and, dare Draco think it, happy. 

Draco shifted the hand on Harry’s waist to his lower back, and brought him in closer. ‘Yeah.’ 

‘Would you like to, I don’t know, go to dinner with me sometime?’ 

‘Yes. I would.’ 

A happy, breathy laugh, and Harry’s hand on his shoulder shifted, until Draco could feel warm fingertips gently grazing the back of his neck. ‘It’d be romantic if we kissed right now, wouldn't it?’ 

Draco laughed, again. Merlin, this didn’t seem real. ‘You have a funny way of flirting, Harry.’ Then, without hesitation (because Circe knew he’d already waited long enough to kiss Harry James Potter), Draco leaned in, and pressed his lips against Harry’s. 

And it was like a deep breath in, after holding it for too long. Harry’s face—warm, and rough with stubble. But his lips pliant and soft, all the same. 

They slowed their dancing to a stop, and Draco removed his hand from Harry’s so that he could touch his cheek, then the shell of his ear, and finally lace his fingers through those thick, greying black curls. And Harry wrapped his arm around Draco’s back, and pressed him in even closer. Their lips moved in a tentative, somewhat uncertain, dance of their own. 

Harry pulled back first, and searched Draco’s face with bright, wide eyes. ‘I wanted to do that for a while. All through the planning and the dinners and the suit-fittings. You’re so irritatingly fit and composed all the time that I just want to ruffle you.’ Draco raised an eyebrow as Harry let out a nervous laugh. ‘But I thought there was no way … no chance you’d ever …' he trailed off, staring at Draco’s mouth. 

‘So why did you go for it today, of all days?’ 

‘Feeling sentimental, I s’pose. Romance is in the air, and all that.’ He huffed a dry laugh at himself. ‘And if you’d said “no” to the dance, I would’ve dropped it.’ 

‘I’m glad I said “fine” then,’ he said wryly, and laughed—bewildered with himself. 

Harry joined him—with a laugh breathy and contented. They were laughing at themselves, then. At their own awkwardness, and their supposed long-held mutual attraction. Draco felt drunk with it, and he was quite sure it _wasn’t_ the wine. 

‘Yeah,’ Harry whispered, his expression sobering into a soft smile, as his eyes practically glittered with reflections of fairy light. Then Harry leaned in closer, in order to kiss Draco again. And Draco smiled, as he closed the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ❤️


End file.
